CATS/Rumplestiltskin
by Weirdlet
Summary: I saw others writing CATS/fairy-tale stories, and decided to start with that. This is my first story, please don't insult.


I've seen these warnings on other fan-fictions, so I assume   
I'm supposed to. I don't own CATS, and just as a note, I   
usually have Rum Tum Tugger much nicer.  
CATS/Rumplestiltskin  
Once, there was a prince of cats. He was a beauty, with a   
heavy golden ruff and sleek black fur, and golden eyes. Now,   
this prince, called Rum Tum Tugger, needed a permanent mate   
before he was eligible for the throne. He had many potential   
queens hoping to be his mate, but he wanted his queen to be   
able to do something useful.   
So the prince sent his underlings out with the message   
that she who had the most useful skill would be his queen. His   
lackeys went from place to place, spreading the message. And   
soon, females came to his palace to display their skills in   
droves. And Prince Rum Tum nearly went mad watching potential   
queen after potential queen dance, sing, hunt, flatter. None   
of it seemed all that useful, and got darned boring after the   
first five days straight.   
A ways away, a number of proud relatives were boasting   
about their unwed daughters' and sisters' skills.   
"My sister Victoria can dance as gracefully as a doe   
leaps," said Mistoffelees the magician. "My daughter, Jemima,   
can sing like a nightingale," said Demeter the farmwife. "Our   
sister, Casssandra, has the gift of prophecy," said Coricopat   
and Tantomile, the local healers.  
Jennyanydots, the local seamstress, knew her daughter   
Electra could weave and spin and dye wonderfully. But surely   
that would not impress the others, or the prince. So, when it   
came time to name her daughter's skill, she said, "My daughter   
Electra can weave yarn to gold."  
News reached Prince Rum Tum about this extraordinary   
gift. He was a beautiful tom, but he was vain as well. He   
thought that cloth-of-gold would look very good on him, and he   
sent for Electra to be brought to him.  
The young toroiseshell queen was very frightened by the   
comely but egotistical prince, who ordered that she   
demonstrate her skills and had her shut into a room with yarn   
and a loom. If all the yarn was not spun into gold cloth by   
dawn, he said he would have her thrown to a pack of   
Pomeranians.   
Electra waited until the door was locked, the key   
removed, and footsteps faded to sit down, stunned, and think.   
Perhaps the prince had given her magic yarn, or an enchanted   
loom. The little tortoiseshell then tried to weave the yarn,   
but although she got some pretty good cloth, not a thread of   
gold could be seen.  
Around moonset, Electra started to weep in frustration,   
and not a little fear. Pomeranians were small, but in packs   
were vicious. She was starting to hiccup when appeared- not a   
funny little man, nor a fairy- but a rather cute young tom   
with red hair and some dark-grey stripes.   
"Um, hi. I noticed, you were crying?"  
Electra was startled. But she quickly recovered and   
answered.   
"Yes, I was crying. Prince Rum Tum Tugger said that if   
all this," she waved an arm, indicating the pyramids of yarn-  
balls, "wasn't spun into cloth-of-gold by dawn I'll be thrown   
to a pack of small, hairy, particularly nasty dogs."  
The young tom pulled a wry face. "That doesn't sound   
good. I could, uh, help out. I know a trick or three about   
weaving."  
"Oh, thank you!" cried Electra.  
"Um, but first," said the redheaded tom. "I need to know   
what you can give me in return. Otherwise, it doesn't work."   
He looked highly embarrassed.  
Electra thought a bit. Then she took off a ring her first   
sweetheart had given her. It was a bit of pot metal twisted   
into a circle, but then, the giver and maker had been the ten-  
year-old apprentice to the blacksmith. Still, it was precious   
to her.  
She gave the young tom the ring, and he accepted it   
looking as though he were sorry he had to take it from her.   
With that, he started to weave.   
Electra watched, astonished, as he wove the yarn into   
sheets of beautiful golden cloth. Not only that, but he did it   
quickly, the yarn disappearing as the fabric piled up.   
Finally, he finished, just before the stars started fading.  
Electra nodded off before she could thank him, and when   
the dawn came and the prince Rum Tum Tugger made his entrance,   
the young tom had disappeared.   
The prince looked at the golden cloth and his golden eyes   
gleamed with avarice. He said the previous night had been a   
test of her abilities, and to be certain it wasn't a trick,   
Electra had to weave again this night, more yarn than before.  
Well, evening came, and Electra was shut in the room   
again, with larger numbers of yarn balls piled about. The loom   
stood in one corner, and she had no notion of what to do. She   
had no idea of how to weave gold, and there was no way to   
contact the cute tom that had assisted her the previous night.  
She paced the room, occasionally tripping over yarn balls   
and cursing in a way one would not expect of a potential   
prince's bride, pondering what she could do. Almost frustrated   
to the point of tears, Electra turned around and there was the   
young tom!  
"I heard you pacing, and wondered if you were in the same   
predicament again."  
Electra explained that the prince had said she must be   
tested again, and the redhead tom listened. The lining of his   
ears blushing a fine scarlet, he again explained that for the   
magic to work, he needed something in return. Electra took a   
cloth band from about her neck, her first weaving, and gave it   
to him. The young tom blushed, and started weaving. Electra   
helped, passing him yarn and piling the sheets of gold cloth   
out of the way.   
Finally, dawn came, and while her back was turned the   
young tom disappeared. Electra presented the gold cloth to the   
prince, who commanded that she labor one more night. If she   
could weave the extremely large amount of yarn into gold by   
sunrise, she would be his queen. If she failed, the   
Pomeranians would be well fed.  
Electra spent the day filled with dread, and as sunset   
fell, she was led to the room with her heart heavy with fear.  
The moment she turned around, the young tom had appeared.   
"Um, I guessed you'd need me this eve again."  
"Oh, thank you," said Electra. "This time, the prince   
wants all of this woven, and in the morning it's either undone   
and I get eaten by a pack of Pomeranians, or the yarn is   
golden cloth and I marry him."  
The young tom just looked away as his pale face flamed to   
match his hair. "The, uh, price need to be met before the   
magic will work."  
Electra thought as hard as she could about what she could   
give the tom who had helped her so much. But she had nothing   
more.  
"Is there anything I can promise you, that would help?"  
The redhead tom with grey stripes thought for a moment.   
"Well, for this magic the payment seems to need to be made   
before it'll work. But I remember something," he looked away   
in chagrin.  
"What?" asked Electra.   
"It'll work, if you vow to give me your first born   
child."  
Electra was horrified. "I'd rather be eaten by the dog-  
pack than give up my kitten! In fact, I'd rather that than   
marry this cruel prince! Forget the gold-weaving, can you get   
me out of here?"  
The tom was surprised but ecstatic. "I can have us away   
from here in five seconds, if you like! And for this there is   
no bargaining to do." And with that, he waved a paw and he and   
Electra were far from the palace.   
On the walk to a nearby village, Electra and the young   
tom conversed. "If you had taken my kitten, would there have   
been a way to get it back?"  
"Yes, actually. If you'd guessed my name, I would have   
forfeited your kitten. I'm Plato, by the way."  
They reached the village, and Electra and Plato were soon   
wedded. In the meanwhile, the prince Rum Tum Tugger, who'd   
started it, was not very concerned about his potential queen   
disappearing, save that his guards would need to be improved   
considerably. He had the gold cloth, and eventually was wedded   
to a lovely queen named Bombalurina, who was very close to him   
in character. They gave each other merry hell for the rest of   
their days, while Electra and Plato were very happy together,   
weaving and sewing for their living.   



End file.
